Continente (August 18, 1995)
I have still doubts regarding the equality of the Mandala to a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. How is it possible not to confuse the Buddha of the Juryo Chapter with the physical appearance of the historical Prince of the Sakya Clan? This is why I find more direct and perfect the Mandala which depicts exactly the Entity of the Eternal Buddha whose very heart contains all the worlds, and therefore depicts perfectly the Supreme Being.

Murano (February 16, 1996)
I think you are asking me, “I do not understand that the Mandala is equal to a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. The Buddha of Juryo Chapter cannot be confused with the Historical Sakyamuni Buddha. How is it possible? The Mandala depicts exactly the Entity of the Eternal Buddha. All the worlds are contained in the heart of the Eternal Buddha. Therefore, the Mandala depicts perfectly the Supreme Being. Am I right in saying all this?”

First of all, I do not know who says that the Mandala is equal to a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. If anyone says so, he is wrong. The Mandala depicts the Pure World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha. You can see the name Sakyamuni Buddha in the Mandala. He is the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha because he is accompanied by his four Bodhisattva-disciples: Jogyo, Muhengyo, Jogyo, and Anryugyo, in the Mandala. But the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is in reality not different from the Historical Sakyamuni Buddha. The Historical Sakyamuni Buddha announced in the Juryo Chapter that he is eternal. The Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha manifested himself as the Historical Sakyamuni Buddha to save people from suffering. The Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is the Original Buddha of all the other Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters in the past, present and future. All these Buddhas are emanations of the Original Sakyamuni Buddha. He is the Original and Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha. We simply call him the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha or Eternal Buddha.

You can worship a statue of the Buddha as the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha instead of the Mandala. Nichiren carried a small statue of the Buddha with him, and worshiped it as that of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha. But he created the Mandala afterwards to teach others because something must be done to differentiate the statue of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha from that worshiped by those who do not know the originality and eternity of Sakyamuni Buddha.

You can make a set of statues: a Buddha accompanied by four Bodhisattvas, and worship him because a Buddha accompanied by four Bodhisattvas is no one else than the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha. This arrangement of master-and-disciples is never revealed in any other sutra than the Lotus Sutra. But this set of statues is still insufficient to represent the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha because the statue of Sakyamuni Buddha is the same in appearance with that worshiped by those who do not know the Juryo Chapter of the Lotus Sutra.

The most perfect way to represent the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is to write his name in the depiction of his Pure World. Here the Mandala was made.

You may ask me, “If the Mandala is the depiction of the Pure World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha, why is the name Sakyamuni Buddha not put in the center? Since he is the Lord of his Pure World, his name should be placed in the center. The Daimoku is written in the center, instead. Is anything like a monument with the inscription of the Daimoku erected in the center of the Pure World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha?”

Yes, to the eyes of Nichiren, inspirationally. According to the Lotus Sutra, Sakyamuni Buddha and Prabhutaratna (Taho) Buddha are sitting side by side in the Stupa hanging in the sky. Don’t be surprised at this fantasy. Taho is the representative of all the past Buddhas. The congregation is also staying in the sky below the stupa. All the present Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters are sitting on the ground.

Nichiren saw the Daimoku between the two Buddhas in the stupa. The Daimoku literally means ‘title.” Myoho Renge Kyo is the title of the Lotus Sutra. But when it is placed in the center of the Mandala in the form of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, it ceases to be merely the title of a book. It has become the Dharma itself, the Highest Teaching of the Lotus Sutra that the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha manifested himself as the Historical Sakyamuni Buddha to save people from suffering.

Nichiren furthermore established the Daimoku not only as the Dharma itself but also as the symbol of the Pure World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha. The Pure World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is the Purified Saha World we live in. The Purified Saha World is the residence of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha. The Daimoku is the name plate put on the front door of his residence. The Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is the King of the Dharma. The Daimoku is the Royal Standard fluttering on the roof of the Palace of the King of the Dharma. The Palace of the King of the Dharma has all the windows open to us so that we can see who is where.
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The Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha is represented most perfectly in the Mandala having the Daimoku in the center. Without the Daimoku, he will be mistaken just for one of the present Buddhas by a careless Buddhist.

The existence of the writing of the Daimoku in the center of the Mandala is so important that, even when only the Daimoku is wrtten without any other writing, we still call it Ippen-shudai-no-gohonzon or the “Mandala with the Daimoku Only.” Because the Daimoku is the symbol of the Pure World of the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha, it represents all the Three Treasures of the Lotus Sutra: the Buddhas (the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha and his emanation-Buddhas), the Dharma and the Samgha (congregation). A Gendai-ki or “O-daimoku Banner” should be regarded as a simplified Mandala. We should see the Buddhas and the Samgha in it. We see a Gendai-seki or “O-daimoku Stone Monument” at the entrance of a Nichiren temple. When you see a Gendai-seki at the entrance of a temple, you can say that the temple is unmistakably a Nichiren temple. Where there is an O-daimoku banner or an O-daimoku stone monument, there is the Eternal Sakyamuni Buddha who manifested himself as the Prince of the Sakya Clan to save people from suffering.

Questions and Answers on Nichiren Buddhism